If you want to run and don't know how to start, this is the place for you.

I read the profound words of one of the best “running writers” of our generation the “Penguin” John Bingham. The author of the Newbie Chronicles in Runner’s World magazine for a super long time. In John’s profound words “The miracle is not that I finished the miracle is that I had the courage to start” It is an absolutely beautiful statement and one that has likely encouraged so many in this world that would have never considered running to lace up and get out there.This thought is one of the reasons I decided to pick up a keyboard and start typing. I think there are still many people that may have the courage to start but don’t have the first clue as to how. Things like:

What shoes do I need?

Where do I run?

Is there a specific way to run?

Should I stretch?

What can I expect once I start?

What happens when I want to quit?

so many, many more…

These an numerous thoughts and questions go through a persons head when they start running. I know because many of these questions went through my head when I started. The funny thing is… I was a runner before, before I took nearly twenty years to raise a family, work a time consuming job and indulge a large appetite for all things bad for me in the spirit of a reckless personality. You know the person that loved eating and drinking in excess, if you don’t you do now. Because I was that guy!

Any previous experience I had with running did nothing to help me understand what it was like to run as a middle aged man. The twenty-two year old version of me could stay up all night eating chicken wings and drinking beer and wake up bright and early to log 5 -10 miles with no sweat.

In short, when I decided to start running again I was scared to death and to be honest very intimidated by the sport. These fast and skinny gazelles I saw as runners seemed to have attained a level of lifetime fitness that I would never again attain. It was my belief that things had obviously changed since way back when I runner. I HAD NO CLUE WHAT TO DO!! , it was daunting and it was at the least intimidating.

In future posts I will outline my eventual start and nearly everything I encountered in my journey from a person that could only walk a half mile at a time to a five- time marathoner.

More importantly I intend to offer you this space and to invite and offer any and all possible advice to get a runner started and if you have started, to keep you moving. It’s tough to find definitive information on what it takes and how to do things.

That’s why I call this page and this blog- icanruntoo, because you can run too. Let this page help you and please ask questions. Anything and everything is within boundaries if it has to do with running. I have a very large group of fellow runners across the world now- we all want to help.